Grade 7 Georgia Reading CRCT What You Need To Know

What’s on the Test… Six reading selections 50 Multiple Choice Questions that measure your ability to: – Determine the meaning of unknown words using context clues and word parts. – Determine what you read-literary works, informational texts, and media reading materials. – Analyze literary elements and techniques – Compare and contrast literature from different cultures. – Identify textual features and organizational patterns.

Comprehension Understanding Main Ideas and Supporting Details Identifying Author’s Purpose Using Context Clues Identifying Point of View or Bias Summarizing a Text Making Inferences Predicting Outcomes Drawing Conclusions

Understanding Main Idea and Supporting Details Step 1: Read the selection and determine the topic. Step 2: Look at what all the details have in common. They should point to the main idea. HINT: Pay attention to the first and last sentences. Sometimes you may find the main idea.

Understanding Main Idea and Supporting Details Step 3: State the main idea in your own words and look for an answer that closely matches yours. BE CAREFUL NOT TO SELECT A DETAIL THAT MERELY SUPPORTS THE MAIN IDEA. Step 4:Check to make sure that the details in the selection support your answer.

Identifying Author’s Purpose There are usually 4 main reasons an author writes: P ersuade I nform E ntertain S hare Personal Experience You can remember this using this acronym: PIES

Identifying Author’s Purpose Look for the following clues to help you determine the author’s purpose: – TO INFORM: Illustrations, diagrams, maps, charts, headings, and bulleted or numbered items – TO PERSUADE: words like should and must, and words that assign value such as worst and best – TO SHARE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE: frequent use of the word I and emotional words – TO ENTERTAIN: use of vivid descriptions, dialogue, rhymes, drama, or humor

Using Context Clues Step 1: Look at the context of the unfamiliar word. See if the words and sentences around it provide clues to the word’s meaning. Step 2: Use the context clues to make a guess at the unfamiliar word’s meaning. Step 3: Check your definition by inserting it in the passage in place of the unfamiliar word.

Identifying Point of View or Bias Step 1: Determine whether the writer uses more positive words or more negative words. Step 2: Try to answer the question in your own words. Step 3: Look for the choice that best matches your own answer.

Summarizing a Text Step 1: Look for the main idea and the most important details as you read the passage slowly and carefully. Step 2: Consider every answer choice, eliminating those that restate a single detail from the passage, make a general statement about the passage but include no important details, or have little or nothing to do with the passage. Step 3: Be sure the answer you choose covers the ENTIRE passage by including the main idea and major supporting details.

Making Inferences Step 1: Skim the passage once for general understanding; then, re-read it carefully. Keep in mind that most test questions are designed to measure your reading comprehension, not your reading speed. Step 2: Locate key words and phrases in the answer choices that match similar words and phrases in the reading passage. Step 3: Confirm your answer by considering your prior knowledge about the subject of the passage.

Predicting Outcomes Step 1: Read the passage carefully. Everything you need to know is there. The correct answer must follow easily from the information in the passage-it should never depend on a change in a person or an unlikely turn of events. Step 2: Using the information in the passage, make a prediction about what will most likely happen next. Ask yourself what will result from the events in the passage. Step 3: For this kind of question, you will need to read ALL the answers before you choose one.

Drawing Conclusions You may be asked questions like, “Why do you think…”or “Based on the information in the passage…”. These types of questions require you to draw conclusions. STEP 1: Read the question or stem to identify the topic of the question. STEP 2: Study the answer choices, eliminating the ones that are clearly wrong. STEP 3: Re-read the passage and look for evidence that supports which of the remaining answers choices is correct.

Analyzing Elements of Character, Theme, or Setting Step 1: Be sure you understand the three basic elements: character, theme and setting. Step 2: Read your questions BEFORE you read the passage so you will know exactly what to look for in the passage. Step 3: Look for information in the passage that relates to the literary element you are asked to find. Step 4: Choose the answer that most correctly relates to the details in the passage.

Analyzing Tone An author’s tone is his or her attitude, conveyed largely through word choice. Step 1: Look at the writer’s diction (word choice). In particular, identify any connotative words the writer uses. Determine what the connotations suggest about the writer’s attitude toward the subject. Step 2: Read ALL the answer choices, and eliminate the ones that are clearly inconsistent with the writer’s tone. Step 3: Examine the remaining answer choices, and choose the one that best describes the tone of the passage. *BEWARE of answer choices that exaggerate the writer’s attitude.

Analyzing Style Style refers to the author’s unique manner of expression. Mood is a critical element of style. Mood is the FEELING that the literature creates. As with tone, the author’s diction is a major component of mood. Another way to analyze style is to classify it as formal or informal.

Analyzing Style Step 1: Look at the answer choices – Words like admiring, bitter, and comic suggest that the question is focusing on tone or mood. – Words like slangy, lofty, or elevated suggest that the question is focusing on formality or informality. Step 2: Eliminate answer choices that are clearly inconsistent with the diction, tone, or mood of the selection. Step 3: Select the remaining choice that seems most consistent with the diction, tone, or mood of the selection.

Evaluating Rhetorical Strategies Step 1: Look for general statements. Words like no one, never, every, and always may signal a general statement. An example of a general statement that sounds like an overgeneralization is “All dogs love to play in the water.” Step 2: Identify the details that support the statement. If there are none, it’s probably an overgeneralization. Step 3: Evaluate the support. Does it really support the broad generalization or only a qualified version of the generalization. * An example of an overgeneralization that has been qualified is “Some dogs love to play in the water.”

Analyzing Literary Devices Device and definitionExample An allusion is a reference to a person, place, or event from history, literature, religion, mythology, politics, sport, science, or pop culture. “I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father, Jor-el, to save the Planet Earth.” (From a 2008 speech then Senator Barak Obama gave alluding to Jesus and Superman.) Figurative Language describes one thing in terms of another and is not meant to be taken literally. A metaphor compares one thing to something quite unlike it. A simile compares two things using like or as. Personification describes an inanimate object having human characteristics. Metaphor: The wind is a rake. Simile: The thick woods were like prison walls. Personification: The flower turned its gaze toward the sun. Imagery is language that appeals to any of the five senses: sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste. At the pond, a rustling of dry reeds revealed the brown head of a grackle, who watched the cool, gleaming water with a beady eye.

Analyzing Literary Devices Device and definitionExample Irony is the contrast between expectation and reality: between what is said and what is meant (verbal); between what is expected to happen and what really happens (situational); between what a character thinks is true and what the audience knows to be true (dramatic). Verbal irony: Someone spills a drink all over themselves and they say, “Oh Great!” Situational irony: A soldier survives many dangerous battles in the war overseas only to come home and be run over by an ice cream truck. Dramatic Irony: A play’s hero thinks her son is dead, but the audience knows that her son is alive. A symbol is an object, event, person, or animal to which extraordinary meaning is attached. A skull and crossbones symbolize danger; Red roses symbolize love. These are symbols everyone uses.